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Clogging of granular materials in narrow vertical pipes discharged at constant velocity

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Abstract

We report experimental results for pipe flow of granular materials discharged through vertical narrow tubes by means of a conveyor belt placed at the bottom. When the diameter of the tube is not much larger than the particle size, the system clogs due to the development of hanging arches that are able to support the weight of the grains above them. We find that the time it takes to develop a stable clog decays exponentially, which is compatible with a clogging probability that remains constant during the discharge. From this, and making an analogy with the discharge of silos, we introduce the avalanche size, measured in terms of the number of discharged tubes before the system clogs. The mean avalanche size is found to increase as the tube diameter is enlarged, the velocity of the conveyor belt grows, and the tube tilt deviates from the vertical.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank the contribution of referees. We are also grateful to J. Bienzobas and L. Quero for discussions and L.F. Urrea for his technical help. This work has been supported by Projects Nos. FIS2011-26675 and FIS2014-57325 Ministerio de Economa y Competitividad (Spanish Government) and partially funded by LKS-INGENIERIA S. COOP.

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Author notes

  1. Alvaro Janda

    Present address: School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JL, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Navarra, 31080, Pamplona, Spain

    Alvaro Janda, Iker Zuriguel, Angel Garcimartín & Diego Maza

Authors
  1. Alvaro Janda
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  2. Iker Zuriguel
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  3. Angel Garcimartín
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  4. Diego Maza
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Correspondence to Iker Zuriguel.

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Janda, A., Zuriguel, I., Garcimartín, A. et al. Clogging of granular materials in narrow vertical pipes discharged at constant velocity. Granular Matter 17, 545–551 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-015-0583-z

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